I Won't Play With You: Promises and Pitfalls of Participatory Research

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-17 - Critical and Participatory Approaches to Qualitative Research

Abstract

Participatory research in education has great promise for critical action and educational opportunity, offering students and teachers the chance to build researcher identities, engage politically, and re-shape the process of teaching and learning. Yet, as I found during fieldwork, it also has significant pitfalls -- a fact little addressed in the literature. This paper outlines the central promises of participatory research, and though an examination of the challenges and questions I encountered in my first participatory project, outlines areas of concern for graduate students designing engaged research. By exploring participation’s pitfalls, this paper hopes to improve access to its promise.

Author

• Catherine Tebaldi, University of Massachusetts - Amherst